Who Deserves the Credit?

I have heard the phrase “on fleek” hundreds of times and it didn’t even cross my mind to inquire about its origin. I am grateful to have read the article featuring its origin, so I can think more critically about memes, phrases, GIFs, etc. that go viral in the digital world. With that said, I’m torn on who should get the credit. From one end you have the original creator, but on the other end you have the person who was innovative and could see the big picture of what the phrase could be. The original creator definitely got taken advantage of in this situation, but she also made the conscious choice to freely post content on the internet without protecting it. Is there such a thing as implicit copyright?

This situation provides a great platform and advocacy for teaching digital citizenship. It’s so easy to make content and put it out into the digital world without a care in the world. I believe the information around trade marking, copyright, creative commons, and privacy in general should be spread wider, so people can protect themselves and their work. I also understand it’s challenging to think ahead because typically the intent behind the content is to make something interesting that people will like. I think it’s highly unlikely the girl who coined the term “on fleek” was doing so purposefully.

One thought on “Who Deserves the Credit?

  1. I agree that these moment of creation often go nowhere and we’re not always prepared for when they do take off. I think that my concern is that when others do “remix” others’ work with the intent of profiting, and even a simple acknowledgement of original sources would go a long way. We’re still figuring this all out. I’m happy to see you Creative Commons license just to the right as I type!

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